Our View: Sign petition to keep Curtis Brownell in prison

Monday

Jan 13, 2014 at 7:00 PM

Some crimes are so heinous that the perpetrator should never be set free. Such is the case with Curtis Brownell.

Brownell is in prison for the September 1977 kidnapping, rape and murder of 17-year-old Louise Betts. Brownell abducted the Harlem High School student as she hitchhiked along North Second Street in Loves Park, then raped and strangled her. He dumped her body in rural Boone County, and she wasn't found for six months.

While police looked for Betts, Brownell kidnapped, raped and tried to kill another woman, this one seven months pregnant. He left her for dead after running over her with a car.

If he hadn't been caught, there's no telling how many additional victims there might have been.

Brownell was sentenced to 200 to 600 years behind bars. You would think that would be enough, but Illinois' justice system at the time said otherwise.

If Brownell were to be sentenced now, the courts could put him away without the possibility of parole. But under the sentencing laws in effect at the time, he is entitled to a regular shot at freedom.

He has been denied parole 13 times since first trying in 1987. So far, no member of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has voted for his release.

Readers of the Rockford Register Star have helped keep Brownell in prison. Readers of the Register Star and rrstar.com made their voices heard in 2011 as 1,537 signed an online petition to keep Brownell in prison and 534 sent in faxes or clipped out and mailed a coupon that ran in the print edition.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board considers community reaction in its process. Let's give the board plenty to consider.

The electronic petition again is available at rrstar.com. In previous years, we've included a coupon that could be cut out and sent to us for forwarding to the parole board. That option is not available. This year if you can't sign our online petition, you can send a letter to: Illinois Prisoner Review Board: 319 E. Madison St., Suite A, Springfield, IL 62701.

It's sad that we have to make these appeals every three years to keep killers such as Brownell, Robert Henry Lower, Calvin Madison, Simon Peter Nelson and others behind bars. We will continue to do so for the sake of the families of the victims.

Those families have to relive the horror of their loved ones' deaths every few years. There is no closure. The circumstances are replayed far too often because of the parole system.

"It's like the sutures being torn off a really deep wound," Earl Betts, Louise's brother, said in a phone interview with reporter Kevin Haas from his home in Texas.

"You never have a sense of closure," said Gary Betts, Louise's brother who lives in Loves Park. "The sense of loss, the pain and the heartache is brought back to the surface like it was just yesterday."

It's important to be vigilant and make your voice heard. The Prisoner Review Board has been criticized in recent years for saying no too often. There may be a time when they say yes, but it should not be with Brownell or the others we mentioned.